Nhc Healthcare, Ft Sanders
2120 Highland Ave, Knoxville TN 37916 · (865) 525-4131 · 82.46% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Sara Levinsohn
Nhc Healthcare, Ft Sanders is a large nursing home in Knoxville, Tennessee. Sporting an overall rating of B+, this nursing home should work for most prospective residents. In fact, we found this nursing home to be better than the majority of the nursing homes in Knoxville, which has a city grade of B. This nursing home was better in some categories than others, but it didn't have any poor grades in any of the major categories discussed below. More information about these categories can be found below.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 166 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
In addition to receiving a strong overall score, this facility also received first-rate health inspections in recent years. We gave them one of our better grades in this category, with an A-. Arguably the most critical factor we look at in calculating our inspection ratings is deficiencies. Deficiencies are found on a nursing home's inspection reports. Places with better scores in this category typically dodged the more severe deficiencies involving things like patient abuse. While this facility had a few minor dings on its report, it had no severe deficiencies. Severe deficiencies are ones labeled as categories G, H, I, J, K and L. This means that CMS did not deem any of the deficiencies on this facility's report to pose an imminent threat to patient safety or health. A couple minor deficiencies aren't necessarily the end of the world.
Short-term Care Quality
This facility received high scores in the category of short-term care as well. Indeed, we gave it one of our most superb scores in that category with a score of A-. In the area of short-term care, we attempt to assess measures of a facility's rehabilitation. We assess the facility's skilled nursing services, including those performed by registered nurses and physical and occupational therapists. Fortunately, this nursing home offers both physical therapists and registered nurses. Not all facilities offer both. The last measure we considered in this category is the percentage of patients that ultimately returned home from the nursing home. We found that it performed as well as just about any nursing home in Tennessee in this area with 60.9 percent of its residents returning home. At most facilities, fewer than half of their short-term residents are able to return home.
Nurse Quality
Another strong feature for this facility is that it received an impressive nursing grade. In that area, we awarded this facility a grade of B+. There are a host of datapoints within this area. Most of the factors reflect levels of nurse staffing. This nursing home provides 3.7 hours of nursing care per resident per day. Lastly, our nursing grades also factor in quality-based assessments, such as avoiding major falls. This facility performed better than average in this area. This is often a good indicator that a nursing home has reliable quality controls in place. Major falls can typically be prevented if more nurses aids and better safety protocols are in place.
Long-term Care Quality
The next area we assessed was long-term care. We awarded this nursing home a decent grade in that area, with a B-. Although this was not as strong as many of this facility's other grades, it is nevertheless not a poor grade. Long-term care grades are typically used to assess a facility's performance as a traditional convalescent home, as opposed to focusing more on the skilled nursing services offered by a skilled nursing facility. On top of considering the quantity of care provided by aids and other staff, we analyzed the number of residents vaccinated for pneumonia. This facility provided the vaccine to 98.43049 percent of its residents, which is higher than the vast majority of nursing homes. Lastly, this place was able to limit hospitalizations. With just 1.45 hospitalizations per 1,000 long-term resident days, this facility has fewer hospitalizations than most nursing homes.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
Nhc Healthcare, Ft Sanders Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This tells you the percent of residents that sustained a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers, which are also called bed sores, are routinely caused by patients staying in one position for too long. Better nursing protocols can reduce the percentage of residents in a nursing home who sustain pressure ulcers.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This is the percentage of patients that have had a fall resulting in serious injury.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This is the percentage of residents that have had a urinary tract infection. Urinary tract infections are considered by many experts to be an indicator of the quality of nursing care at a nursing home. UTI's are often associated with a facility with lower levels of hygiene. However, this metric could be misleading for some facilities due to different reporting standards for urinary tract infections.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This datapoint indicates the percent of long-term care residents taking antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic drugs serve an important medical purpose, it is important to confirm these drugs are being used only where medically required. In some situations, excessive reliance on these medications may indicate that a nursing home is using these medications to subdue residents.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This is the percent of residents who were given antianxiety medications. Antianxiety medications are given to patients experiencing depression and anxiety.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This indicates the percent of patients who are exhibiting depressive symptoms. Increased rates of depression could indicate a less hospitable environment.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This is a measure of the percentage of long-term residents that were vaccinated against pneumonia and flu.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This tells you the percent of patients who required increased assistance with activities of daily living over time. High levels of dependence on staff for assistance with ADL's may indicate erosion of a patient's health.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This tells you the percent of residents that were able to retain mobility over time. Preserving mobility is often a great sign for residents' health.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This datapoint is a measure of the number of hospitalizations per thousand days of patient care. Keeping residents out of the hospital is important to maintaining the physical health of nursing home patients.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This metric is a measure of the number of rehospitalizations per 1,000 days of short-term patient care.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This metric is a measure of the number of times residents are sent to the emergency room per 1,000 days of short-term patient care. Avoiding medical emergencies is one way to measure patient well-being during rehabilitation.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This metric is a measure of the percent of short-term residents that saw functional improvements.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better